Show conservation OF MOISTURE surface of soil must be kept take care of rsm as rapidly as it descends gaw II 11 STEVENSON copyright from two hundred and seventy five to six hundred tons of water are re 6 quiren to produce one ton of dry mat ter for most of our common tarm crops in many portions of the united states the rainfall during the growing months Is not sufficient to supply these large amounts of water to the crops this fact lays stress upon two things namely the importance of large later supplies in the soil not as stagnant wa ter but as capillary water which la for the most part available tor grow lug plants and also the importance ot the conservation of this eoll water the first edep in conserving eon moisture Is to have and keep the sur face of the soil in such condition that most of the rainfall will be received into it and will be carried by gravitation to the lower zones where the wa ter supply Is held until later called into use whenever the surface ot the boll Is baked or run together and impervious it Is practically certain that a large portion et every rain will not get into the soil but Is lost because of surface drainage an effort should be made to hold the rains of the entire year those of the fall and winter and early spring as well as those of the growing season in order to accod this the surface of the soil must be kept loose and open so that as rapidly as rain falls it may be taken into the upper soil from whence it can work downward to the great storehouse beneath fall plowing helps to put the sur face in condition to take up atte rainfall the hardened crust Is broken and water enters freely moreover the ridges and hollows of the plowed surface act as basins which hold snow and rain until they soak into tho soil early spring plowing and disking also play an important part in putting the surface soil in con dialon to retain and take in a maximum amount of water 1 the second step in soil moisture con atlon Is to save the water which has entered the soil this can best be done by cultivation the reason Is this water Is carried from the lower zones of the soil by capillarity it rises in the soil from soil particle to 11 particle and finally it reaches the sur face of the soil and Is lost by evalora alon unless the upward movement Is checked by some agency now cult creates this agency namely a soil mulch the principle of moisture conservation by mulches Is well established there is no practical method for saving soil moisture except by the use of the mulch |